Apple today posted a new job listing for a Manufacturing Design Engineer with a focus on Advanced Plastic Tooling and Process. According to the job description, Apple is looking to expand and improve its current plastics division.

Quote:

Identify, develop and launch new tooling and process capabilities in support of new Apple product developments. Areas of focus will be "non-traditional" Apple plastic processing such as thermoforming, foam molding, blow molding, etc., and their application to new Apple products. The successful candidate will have demonstrated history of bringing new process and tooling technologies through a full development cycle and launch into high volume production.

Though Apple has focused heavily on aluminum for the iPad, the iPhone, and the MacBook line for the past few years, the Cupertino-based company has continued to prominently use plastics in such products as the Apple TV, the AirPort Extreme, keyboards, and other accessories.

A new hire specializing in plastics is unlikely to be involved in the design of the low cost iPhone, given that it is rumored to be released later this year, but the open position does support reports that Apple is focusing on novel uses of plastics for upcoming products.

I think that's what made the iPhone 4 design so great. It was a big step up in terms of metals and glass over the plastic used in the 3G and 3GS. I realize some wireless products need certain plastics to propagate signals but why step backwards if this is true?

Or the guy that works on the Magic Mouse just quit and they're replacing him.

I'm sorry, but I hate the "a job posting means a new direction for Apple products" stories.

hopefully they fired that guy. Whoever designed that mouse deserves to be fired. If you want a proper slim mouse the arc touch mouse was a way better design and wasn't a carpal tunnel magnet. The arc touch is very comfortable to hold. Much more so than it looks.

Some plastics like Teflon, Polyamide 6.6 or Polycarbonate are very robust. In some cases more robust than aluminum.

Future WLAN standards need up to 8 antennas (802.11ac, up to ≈ 7 GBit/s), or use very high frequencies (802.11ad, 60 GHz). That means Apple needs more antennas in iDevices and a material which does not block the 5 GHz or 60 GHz frequencies.